


A Puppy For Bucky

by buckyscrystalqueen



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 08:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16869661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyscrystalqueen/pseuds/buckyscrystalqueen





	A Puppy For Bucky

Driving a motorcycle was scary in and of itself. Driving a motorcycle in New York City was down right terrifying. But driving a motorcycle, in New York City, on Black Friday when it was snowing was down right suicidal.

You zipped through traffic as fast as you could while still being safe, cursing yourself for being late to work. You spent half of your drive swearing at ignorant tourists that ran into the middle of the road without looking and the other half laying on your horn as you raced through Midtown Manhattan. You were so caught up in your thoughts you didn’t notice the cab that jumped the line at the red light as you bobbed around a group of people more concerned with their cell phones than traffic. You careened into the side of it and flew over your handle bars. With a loud yelp, you slammed into the unforgiving pavement and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop on the ground.

“Goddamn son of a bitch.” You grumbled as you reached up slowly and unbuckled your helmet as passersby raced to your aid. “Mother fucking, good for nothing, cock sucking scumbag piece of shit.” You pulled off your helmet and slowly sat up as a man rushed to your side.

“Go slow, doll. That was a pretty nasty spill.” You nodded in agreement as everything started to spin violently.

“I think… I…” You reached out and grabbed his arm for balance as you swallowed down some bile in your throat. You looked up into piercing blue eyes… three spinning sets of them. “Can you stop moving?” You asked before your vision tunneled and everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Everything hurt. You felt like you had been… well, hit by a car. With a groan, you slowly forced your eyes open.

“Fuck, man.” You groaned as you were blasted by a blinding white light. You groaned again and swung your arm up to cover your eyes and you yelped as something hard whacked you in the face. “Jesus Christ!” 

“Hey, easy doll.” You heard a man’s voice say.

“Turn off the lights, dude.” You growled as you gently laid your arm back across your eyes. You heard him chuckle slightly before the sound of his boots crossed the floor followed by the flick of the light switch. You raised your arm and opened one of your eyes. You blinked a couple times to bring the room into focus. You saw a long haired, handsome man standing at the end of the bed and your brow furrowed. 

“Why do I know you?” His eyebrows shot to his hair line as he shook his head. Your eyes quickly ran up and down his body as you tried to place the man as he walked over and sat down on the bed by your ankles.

“Umm… I don’t…” The memory clicked as you caught a glimpse of metal at his wrist.

“You’re James Barnes. I was actually going to call you today.” He stood up slowly and took a step back.

“How do you know my number?” You shook your head, groaning at the pain that ricocheted through your skull. 

“Hey, wait. Sorry. I don’t mean to scare you. You applied for a service dog a while back. I work for the VA’s service dog program…” His face almost instantly softened and he let out a breath he was holding.

“Sorry. I just…” You nodded in understanding as you pat the bed by your knees.

“I don’t really think sometimes before I talk. I could blame it on the concussion I apparently have but… it’s just me.” He smiled and you felt your heart almost instantly melt.

“So that would explain why you have a file about me in your bag.” You nodded and chuckled.

“Yep that would… wait, you went through my backpack?” You looked up at him curiously and smirked as a blush raced to his cheeks.

“I… uhh… I was looking for an emergency contact for the cops. Then I had to figure out who you were…” You nodded slowly, taking note that the slow motion didn’t bother your head so much. “I’m gunna grab the doc, then we’ll talk.” You gave him a thumbs up, scowling at the cast on your arm.

“Sounds good to me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

“So you have your choice of dogs." You told Bucky as you flipped through your documents on your iPad, that had somehow managed to survive you landing on it in the accident. “Personally, I suggest the puppies. They tend to be slightly easier to train over a rescue dog. One way or another, though, this is a real commitment. You will be doing a lot of the training yourself with my help, obviously. But it takes a year or two of hard work and continued slightly easier work after that.” Bucky nodded as you quickly refreshed your memory on his file before pulling up the dogs you currently had available that were good for psych cases.

“How do you train them?” You glanced up at him as you spun your tablet around toward him on the bedside table.

“Practice.” You teased with a smile. “It’s a process. Lots of repetition. Now you applied for a dog to help with a psychological condition?” He nodded slowly as he scrolled through the pictures of the dogs.

“I get nightmares… panic some times.” You nodded as you pulled yourself up in the hospital bed you were confined to for 24 hours to monitor your concussion.

“And we are going to help you with that. Your PTSD dog will be specifically trained to help you before you have those moments of panic. The dog will also be trained to wake you up at the first signs of a nightmare before it gets bad. He or she will also comfort you through those times, giving hugs and kisses to bring you back to the present.” You reached out and gently touched his arm with your good hand and smiled when he finally looked up at you. “You’re gunna be alright, Sargent Barnes. I can’t make the promise that I will get you back to what you were all those years ago, but I can promise that we will find you a comfortable ‘normal’ for your life now.” He gave you a small smile and nodded with the slightest hint of tears in his eyes.

“Thank you.” He whispered.

“Don’t thank me just yet. We have a lot of work to do before we get to the thankin’ part.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

“There are so many of them.” Bucky said as you walked him through the kennels. 

“That there are. And all of them will go to veterans in need of…” Your words stopped when you realized Bucky was no longer walking right behind you. You turned to see him stopped in front of a cage, looking at the dog inside. You walked back over and smiled as you quickly checked the clipboard on the kennel. “She’s one that you could potentially work with." You told him as he crouched down in front of the cage to look at the golden lab puppy who had come over to say hi. Bucky chuckled softly as he stuck his fingers through the cage to pet her; receiving kisses instead.

“What’s her name?” You shrugged as you pulled the lead from around your neck.

“We call her Lily but you can change that if you want.” He nodded as you popped the latch on the cage and pushed the door into the kennel. “Try call…” You didn’t even have a chance to finish your sentence before Lily trotted over and nudged Bucky’s metal hand in his glove. “And then there’s that.” You handed him the leash as he scratched her head.

“I take it that doesn’t always happen?” He asked as he clipped the lead to her collar. You shook your head as you stood up.

“Not usually. You know what we gotta do next.” He nodded as he stood up with the leash in his hand. You gestured him to keep following you to the ‘placement room’; the room used to figure out if a dogs personality would fit the veteran. Lily, still the puppy she was jumped playfully as Bucky lead her down the hall. She came from a long line of service dogs and you expected big things from her but you expected the playfulness from the untrained puppy.

You pushed open the door to the room that was painted to look like a small park with faux turf on the floor. It was covered in dog toys. You told Bucky to take Lily off the lead and let her get used to the room. Lily immediately ran over and grabbed a rope and carried the length back over to Bucky. She seemed to be enthralled with him as he crouched down in front of her. She tossed the rope across his knee and looked up at him pleadingly as her tail wagged hopefully. You stood back in the corner, letting Bucky take control.

“What, you wanna play?” He asked her as he took the end of the rope in his hand. She waited until he tugged it lightly before breaking out into a full blown game of tug of war. He laughed at her vicious little growls as she pulled with all her might. She stayed interested for a while until Bucky moved his left arm. The whirls of the motors and the slight clack of the plates caught her attention and the rope was instantly forgotten. Very cautiously, she took a few steps over toward the noise. She sniffed at his jacket as she waited to see if the noise would come back.

“Are you comfortable showing her?” You asked softly. He sort of nodded as he pulled off his glove. You didn’t let the metal hand phase you as he held his fingers out so Lily could smell them. She looked at them curiously, her ears perked in her curiosity as she touched her nose to them. You and Lily both watched as Bucky pulled his arm out of his jacket and sat down on the floor. 

Lily jumped back a bit as he moved his arm a bit back and forth so it would make the noises again. You watched as she cocked her head to the side, watching it carefully. You could almost sense Bucky’s fear that he would scare her away because of it; something he had told you was a concern of his. As if she could sense it, Lily looked up at him in concern at his sudden mood shift. You smiled to yourself as she followed her natural instinct to sooth. She walked over, glancing only briefly at his arm before crawling into his lap. She let out a tiny whine as she laid her head on his metal arm gently as if she knew that was the source of his pain.

“She's your dog.” You said softly as Bucky scratched her head. He nodded as he tilted his head to look at her a little better with a giant smile on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

“This is your home?” You asked as you followed him and his shadow, Lily through the living quarters of Stark Towers.

“For now until Lily is older.” You nodded as you followed him toward the living room. You had been working with both of them for almost four months and you had never seen a better match out of the ten vets you had worked with in your career. And Lily was picking up on commands faster than any dog you had seen as well.

“Alright, so let’s see what you two have been working on here.” You said as you sat down on the couch and pulled out your iPad to take notes. This was always your favorite part. It was one thing to teach a dog commands in a controlled environment. It was entirely different to see them follow the commands at home. 

Bucky snapped to get Lily’s attention and you could almost see in her eyes the switch from pet to worker. Bucky tapped his forehead, suggesting a head pain and Lilly got up. She ran to what you assumed was his room and brought back his med bag containing anxiety meds one of the doctors wanted to try on him in extreme situations. Without even needing to be commanded, the second she dropped the strap in his hand she ran to get a bottle of water from the fridge. 

You watched Bucky lead her through a whole string of tasks; from bringing Bucky a house phone from his room so he could call Steve for help in case of a break down, to hitting the speed dial for his cell phone and calling him, to going as far as retrieving him from his room; pushing him toward the living room with her head so he could assist where she couldn’t.

She wasn’t deterred when you played loud music or called her name in attempt to purposely distract her. She didn’t pay any mind to Natasha and Sam tossing a tennis ball back and forth right in front of her. The only thing she focused on was following the commands Bucky had given her. She had a few commands that she was still obviously working on and Tony got her attention for only a moment with a slice of bacon before Bucky got her back but from what you saw, she was making progress unlike anything you had seen. 

“He always gets her with the bacon.” Bucky said as he let Lily out of worker mode by giving her a treat and scratching behind her ear. “And we are still working on the lights and the TV out here. This place is still even too technologically advanced for me but my room is a little simpler and she's got it down in there.” You nodded as you finished typing your notes in his file.

“Now how is she doing with public stimuli?” You asked as you crossed your legs and looked up at him. He nodded slowly as he signaled Lily to lay down.

“We’re getting better. The people that don’t pay attention to the ‘working dog do not pet’ vest still distract her sometimes.” You nodded as you switched to a different part of his file and took a note as he cleared his throat. “Would you… um… like to see her in action? Get a cup of coffee with me?” Your head shot up and a slight blush crept to your cheeks. You had a rule about dating your clients but there was something about Bucky that had you breaking all your rules.

It started out with telling him a few personal stories. Sure, you told your clients a little about you but you never scraped below the surface like you did with Bucky. You told him about your family and told him the real reason you got into training service dogs. Your little brother had severe autism and he was given a service dog to help calm his uncontrollable tantrums. You vowed that one day you would help make other peoples lives better the same way.

You found yourself spending more time than was necessary with Bucky and Lily, wanting to get to know the man you were helping out. It took almost two months before he started slowly opening up to you and you really thought Lily had something to do with it. Now he was a completely different man than the man you had sat with you at the hospital; still guarded but much less tense. You wanted to tell him no, wanted to tell him it was a bad idea to mix business with pleasure but that’s now what came out of your mouth.

“I… um…” You nodded your head as your smile and your blush grew on your face. “I’d actually really like that.” He smiled as stood up from the couch. You collected your things as Bucky told Lily to help him get her ready to go. She happily trotted in front of him to his room to get her harness and service dog vest on. Neither of you said much as you rode the elevator down and walked through the lobby of Stark Towers but as you headed out the main doors toward the coffee shop a couple blocks away, Bucky glanced over at you.

“Are you gunna get in trouble for this?” He asked and you huffed a laugh.

“Typically, yea but seeing as though I am one of the owners of my company…” You shrugged. “It’s a grey area.” He nodded as you both let Lily guide you through the people; monitoring for potential threats that could trigger an anxiety attack. You notice in the last week that Bucky had stopped wearing his glove out in public but he did keep it in his pocket. You were honestly proud of the progress he had been making as well. 

“Can I confess something?” You asked as you came up on the coffee house. He glanced over at you and nodded as he paused outside the door. “You’re the first man I’ve met, in my business or otherwise that I would want to grab coffee with.” You watch a slight blush creep up under his short scruff of a beard and he smiled at you.

“Confession of my own? You're the first woman in my life that I actually look forward to seeing everyday.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was three months to the day after your first coffee date when you really saw Lily in action for the first time.

You and Bucky lasted a week after your date before you slept together for the first time. After Tony had walked in on the two of you mid action twice; swearing up and down it was a total accident, you decided to bring him to your place instead. He stayed over at your place once or twice a week, which turned into a few times a week and eventually, he practically moved in. 

You were laying in bed on your stomach, using Bucky’s arm as a pillow when it suddenly jerked under your head. You gasped and lurched back onto your knees, trying to wrap your sleep fogged brain around what was happening.

“No!” Bucky snapped as he whipped his head to the side. You could hear the panic and fear in that one simple word… and so did Lily. She leapt onto the bed and let out two loud barks, ripping Bucky from his nightmare. You watched her keep her distance for a moment, making sure she was getting Bucky and not the Winter Soldier. Once she was sure, she walked forward, laid her head on his shoulder and put her paw across his chest in a hug. She whined to let him know she was there and kissed his jaw as he fought to catch his breath. You let her do her job as you kneeled at the end of your bed and watched. He pinched his eyes and rubbed his hand down her back until his breathing finally leveled out.

“You OK?” You asked softly after a minute as you moved your legs to sit on the bed. He uncovered his face and looked down at you, almost as if he was just realizing he woke you up. 

“Shit, doll. I’m sorry…” You shook your head as Lily, got up and moved to the end of the bed until she was told what to do so you could be the comforter.

“You're fine, hun. I was just trying to figure out why my pillow moved.” He gave you a weak smile as you laid back down next to him with your head on his chest. “You wanna talk about it?” He shook his head as he pat the bed with his metal hand to call Lily to his other side. You nodded against his chest as he scratched the top of Lily’s head. 

“She’s a good dog.” You said as you reached across his body and scratched behind her ear. He nodded as he wrapped his arm around you and pulled you closer to his side.

“And I can never thank you enough for her.” You smiled and kissed his muscular chest before shifting your head into a comfortable spot to fall back asleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

“See how he's pulling like that?” You asked your new client, Sam. He nodded as he wiggled his fingers under yours on the harness next to his wheelchair. He glanced over at you out of the corner of his eye, the only way he could see you with his version of blindness. You gave him a small smile and nodded your head. 

“A dog’s natural instinct is to go and play with other dogs. To explore and be a dog and do doggie things like bark at squirrels and sniff each others butts and shit.” Sam chuckled a bit at your training methods. “So when he does that, what do you do?” You felt him pull back on the harness under your hand. You nodded as the dog took a step back like he was supposed to. Scout was a well trained service dog that was pre trained for people with physical needs. Now it was just a matter of getting Sam and Scout to learn each other. 

“So now that he’s calm and at attention…” Your words were cut off by the distinct sound of metal sliding across metal before it a whined metallic crunch filled the air. You glanced over toward the noise and smiled at Bucky. Your smile almost instantly dropped at the look of pure fury in his eyes. “Hey Sam. Why don’t you run through some basic commands real fast. I’ll be right back.” He glanced over at you and nodded as you stood up and walked across the dog park.

“Lily down!” Bucky snapped as she tried to do her job to calm him down from an episode. 

“Hey!" You shouted as you ran over to him shaking your head. “You don’t yell at her. She’s doing her job.” You said with a level tone once you got close to him so people didn’t overhear. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on but you can’t…”

“Keep the dog.” He snapped as he threw the leash at you. Your jaw dropped as he turned on his heel and stormed off.

“Bucky.” You called as you quickly grabbed the leash so Lily wouldn’t run off. He looked back long enough to tell her stay before running from the park without another word. You shook your head, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. “Lily, come.” You commanded as you opened the fence to let her in the park as you fought back tears. You let her off her lead and pulled out your phone to call Steve to let him know what was going on. Lily sat down at the gate, stared in the direction Bucky went, and whined; wanting her daddy to come back. With a heavy heart, and a promise from Steve that he would let you know the moment he found Bucky, you headed back over to Sam to finish your training session.

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It took Steve six hours to find Bucky. You and Lily were both sitting on your couch, looking up at the door at every little noise you heard when the text that he was OK and at the Tower finally came through. Tears filled your eyes as you thanked the Avenger before tossing your phone on the table. You forced yourself off the couch and Lily followed after you to the bedroom. You both climbed into bed, and laid there wide awake the whole night.

It was three days of forcing yourself and Lily to eat and function before Bucky finally came home. You were sitting on the couch, watching the rain fall out your apartment window when the lock finally turned on your front door. Lily jumped onto the back of the couch with her tail wagging a mile a minute as you nervously chewed your thumb nail. The moment he stepped into the room, Lily lurched over the couch and ran as fast as she could. You wanted to stand up and go to him; wanted to wrap him in your arms and tell him it was all going to be OK but you couldn’t move. 

“Hey Lil.” He said softly as he shut the door and crouched down to say hello. She instantly attacked his face with kisses; giving him all the love she had in her heart. You crossed your arms over your chest and chewed your bottom lip as he finally looked up at you. “Doll…” You shook your head as tears poured from your eyes. You got up with a shake of your head and headed into the bedroom; not ready to hear him out just yet. He let you have a minute as you crawled onto your bed and leaned back against the headboard with tears streaming down your cheeks. You ran your hands through your hair and looked up at him as he headed back to the bedroom with Lily right on his heels. 

“I got jealous.” He said as he leaned against the door frame with his eyes trained on the ground. “You were holding his hand and I just…”

“I was working, James.” He nodded as he shoved his hands in his jacket pocket in shame.

“I know. Baby, I’m so sorry.” You looked away and watched the rain fall outside your bedroom window as you tried to collect your thoughts.

“You could have cost me my job; my company.” You said softly as you looked back over at him. He didn’t say a word as he sat down on the end of the bed. “Buck, you abandoned Lily. Do you understand what kinda position that puts me in? I usually have to report this.” He nodded as he pat the bed for Lily to come up.

“Doll, please.” With a heavy sigh, you ran your hands through your hair again and looked at Lily. She was pressed up against Bucky’s side, her tail thumping away on the bed. She was peacefully content just licking his hand; happy her daddy had finally come home. You shook your head and looked back up at him.

“Pull a stunt like that again where you just leave her and I have to report it. You get mad at me, you take it out on me, you understand. I’m a person, I understand. She doesn’t.” You pointed at Lily and he nodded. “And you need to understand, I work with mostly men. I’m not holding their hands because I want to. The man you saw me with is legally blind so me putting my hand on his is to let him know where I am since he can only see one thing at a time out of his peripheral vision.” He nodded again and carefully rested his hand on your shin. When you didn’t move your leg away, he shifted so he was right in front of you.

“I love you. The thought of losing you was just…” You nodded in understanding as he wrapped his arm around your knees. You put your hand reassuringly on his arm as his tear filled eyes searched yours.

“I love you too. You don’t have to worry about me going anywhere. I’m right where I wanna be.” He nodded and you reached up and wiped away his tears with your thumb. You moved your fingers to his chin and held his face so he would keep looking at you. “You leave me abandoned in a park somewhere again for any reason other than a Avengers related thing and I’ll kick your ass.” You watched his mouth twitch up into a small smile and he nodded. 

“Yes ma’am.” You pulled him toward you and gave him a chaste kiss before pulling back. 

“Glad we got that covered. Now, she needs to go out and then I’d like to go to bed early. Haven’t slept well in a few days.” With a small shake of his head, he pat your thigh.

“Me neither.” You smirked as he got up to take Lily out for a short run like he always did before dinner.

“Wonder who’s fault that is.” He looked back at you as he pulled a pair of sweatpants out of the closet.

“Mine.” You nodded and bobbed your eyebrow.

“Run fast. I’ll make us something to eat, baby.”


End file.
